photo-uthographer



Jessen' DALfitoN, or BROOKLYN, NEW vous,

Leens Paten: No. 77,363, and April 2s, 1861s.

IMPROVEMNTIN KNlTTING-MAGHIE.

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To ALL WHOM IT MAY ooNoEnN:

Be it lm 'own that I, JOSnPH DALTON, of Brooklyn, in the county oi Kings, and State of New York, have invented. certain mprovements in Knitting-Machines; andvI do hereby declare that the lfollowing is a. full and exact description thereof', reference being had 'to the accompanying drawings, .making port oi' this specification- Figure'l being u top view of a knitting-machine provided with my improvements.

Figure 2, c right-houdend vien' ofthe inn-chine.' Y

Figure, n. transverse vertical section thereof, in a. plane indicated by the line iig. 1, and looking .toward Vthe right-hand end. I

Figure 4, e. left-hand end view oi'ithe machine.

Figure 5, e. transverse vertical section ofthe same, in a plane indicated by the line y y, iig. 1, and looking tovrdrd the-left-hcnd end. v A l lLike letters designate corresponding-parts in all ofthe figures. l

The mein feature oi' my invention consists in the employment of jacquard-cards or plates, invcomhinaticn witlLpoint-slides and needles in such a. manner, that, by the direct notion of thejucqnnrd-plotes, the point-slides receive a reciprocating motion towardsnnd from 4the needles, in addition to their tilting and traversing motion, in such armnxiner that the operation of narrowing knit goods, or of producing open-work knit fabrics is met@ riully facilitated. v i

The invention clsoconsists in various special improvements of the machine, mostly subservient to carrying out the main feature of the invention, as will be hereinafter specied.

The general construction of the frame and machine portion maybe its usuel, and I shall not here give :my description thereof, further then necessary to show the neturennd application of my improvements, since any' one skilled in thenrt of knitting by machinery will readily understand the sume.

Let T represent a. crank, or other means of" applying the moving power to the whole machine, secured to the main or driving-shaft U.

VI will rst describe the device by which the reciprocating or traverse movement is communicated to'the thread-guide carrier, in harmony with all the* movements of the machine portion. A toothed driving-wheel, t, on the moin shaft U, genrs into o. cog-wheel, fu, having twice as many teeth, so that it mnyrevolve half as' fast as the wheel t, To the wheel mor toits shaft, is attached e com, O, having a. cam-groove, o, in its cylindrical periphery. This groove is divided into twov straight orexnctly transverse portions 1 1, and two oblique portions, 2 2, each two situated on opposite sides of the cem-cylinder. Each straight portion occupies one-third of the entire circumference of the cylinder, and each oblique portion one-sixth of the circumference. 'Thus the, thread-guide carrier., which is moved by this com, will stand still one-third of the time, et each end of its traverse movement, and occupy one-sixth of the time in traversing eachvvay. The movements are communicated Afrom the cem to the czirrier hy means of tivo connecting-rods P R, and an intermediate vibrating-lever, Q. The

connecting-rod P has et one end n s'tndLp, which ruusin the grooveo of the cam, being guided or kept therein by e slide-bearing on the frame, neer the com, so that it will yslide freely endvrise. The other end of this rod is. pivoted to the lower'end of the upright lever Q, which vibraties on a. pivot, g; and to its upper end is pivoted one end of the connecting-rod R, while the other end of this-rod is pivoted to the carrier, neer the middle thereof.

The thread-guide 3 is movable and self-adjusting on its carrier, so that it may be readily slid or moved lengthwise thereon, vvhen it strikes anything which prevents its moving with its carrier, but so that it will stay in any position where it is left until moved again forcibly. Fory this purpose, it is provided with a. sleeve or bearing, 6, fitting arounde. square hary or rock-shnft, 4, which is mounted inVthe carrier, the thrend-gnide sliding thereon and turning therewith. The forward end oi' the thread-guide-simply rests on a. bar, N, of theicarrier, so that it may he free to he raised therefrom. The-extent to ivhichthe carrier moves this thrend-guide st each movement thereof, determines the width oi' ,the web knit. `The immediate means by which I narrow the goods consists in a. spiral stop, A, arranged, one ,et eech termination oi' the movement of the thread-guide on its carrier. These spiral stops are secured to a shaft, 5, with which they revolve over the carrier. Each stopv consists of a cylindrical flange, provided with shouldersor projections a a, on its inner end, 'arranged successively, in regular order, one further advanced than the preceding, a space eqiial 'to the distance between the adjacent needles, so that as 4the stop revolves, the width of one shoulder at a time, each successi-ve shoulder' will ystop the thread-guide one needle further in at each movement toward 4the stop,and consequentlynarrow the /fw web one stitch each timc,if the machine is so arranged in. connection 'therewith vas to cast off successive stitches or loopsfrom the needles. A. bar or projection., 7, on the thread-guide, is so situated as to strike thc said shoulders on the stops all aroundits circumference. 'The two stops are arranged alike, on the common shaft,

so that when-one edge ofthe web is narrowed, the other edge will be'icorrespondingly narrowed; or, if' it'should'- be desired to narrow only one edge, there should be only one spiral stop in place, or action. 4'

'In order to turnthe spiral stops one step or shoulder at a time, a ratchet-wheel, I, is secured on their shaft, having as many notches as there are shoulders or steps a a on -eae'h stop; and this ratchet-wheel is moved, one notch at a time, by means of a pawl, I-I,'snspended on a horizontal projection, j,"of a vertical slidolbaijJ, which has a. reciprocating m'otion given to it by means ofa lever or shoe, 7c, pivoted to 'the lower end of the slide-bar, and actuated -by a cam, L, on the driving-shaft U. As this shaft revolves twice as` fast as the vcam O, which drives lthe thread-guide carrier, this pawl is moved at cach forward or backward movement ofthe said carrier. .And if the pawl should move the ratchet every time, the narrowing might proceed too rapidly, whereas, generally, it is not required tonarrow so fast as one stitch at each course of'stitches. I regulate the frequency of the narrowing in the following manner:

The pawl I-I is suspended freely on the projectionj ofthe slide-bar J; and, when left thus free, it does not act en the ratchet-wheel I, so that, ordinarily, thespiral stop is not moved, and no narrowing takes place; and when it is required to narrow, the pawl has to be brought over into gear with the ratchet-wheel. Thismove ment is brought about in the act of bringing the thread-guide forward on its carrier, by a device attached thereto, arranged so as to act on the lower end or bob 8 of the pawl,` whereby the said pawl is bro-ught into position for Yacting either at every forward movement ofthe thread-guide, or atsuch regular intervals as -it may be arranged to operate. This operating-device consists in what' I. term a ratchet-cam, consisting' of a cam, D, so shaped as to strike and move the pawl H only when turned on its pivot toa certain position or positions in its revolution. To this cam is attached a 'ratchet-wheehd, or its equivalent, having a suitable .number of teeth around itsperipheryto move the cam a certainpart of a revolution by moving each. This ratchet-wheel, at each forward movement of the thread-guide, is brought against a spring-guide, Il, attached to the frame in a fixed position, and situated obliquely, in suoli a, direction and -to such an extent as to turn the ratehctvheel one tooth or notch, substantially as indicated in the drawings. Hence, as many notches as are required te bring the cam into position for operating theA pawl 'I-I, so many double rows of stitches will be knit, before thesuecessive narrowings take place; and this number may be varied-by adjustment, or by changing the ratchetcams, orsimplychanging ratchet-wheels. The ratchet-wheel'and Acam are held in position by a stationary pawl or detent, G, inl the ordinarymanner for ratchet-wheels.

"W" m-.I r`1*order. that the spring-guide F may not interfere with the ratchet-'wheel d, or disturb its position on the return movement ofthe thread-guide, its rear end passes into a hook or dedector, 9, 'on the thread-guide, which deiector, acting on the vback side of the obliquet-cam, holds 'and draws forward the whole length thereof, so as to keep it closeup to the tooth of. the ratchet-wheel, whichit has just acted on in the forward movement. It is made elastic, or aspring-g'uide for this purpose, or any equivalent'arrangement, may be employed.

In order to effect' the 'narrowing by the means above described, in connection with the jacquard-cards, it is necessary that the threadshould be either' raised away from or pressed down below theneedles,vout.of the way of the stitch-loops thereon, and of the action of the point-slides, as the thread-guide is brought over the stitches` or loops required to be dropped. i i

- I have represented both methods, the raising and the depressing of the thread-guide, and either may be employed, as preferred. f v

Thus, to raise the thread, the thread-guide turns on the shaft or bar 4, and the free end is raised by the horizontal army' of the slidebar J, bypassing overthe said arm, just before the slide-bar is raised for operating the spiralstop ratchet-wheel.

Or to depress the thread, there is a smaller extra thread-guide, M, which may slide down and up on 'the regular thread-guide, and is held up in proper position for guiding 4the thread by a spiral spring, 12. Upon the upper end of the upright bar of this thread-guide rests one end of a lever, 10, pivoted on the regular threadguide. By having-the regular thread-guide incapable of rising, and having the rear end of this lever I0 pass over the horizontaliarm of, the slide-bar J, when the latter rises, the eXtra thread-guide will be depressed, and will forcethe thread downbelow the needles.

The above improvements are upon what is termed th'e frame part of the whole machine. -The remaining improvements apply directly to what is called the machine part thereof.

The leading 'feature' of my invention, the application ofthe jacquard-cards B B for narrowing, belongs directly to the machine part. They act' upon the point-slides C '0, 'which take oli` and transfer the loops on the needles, Athere being holes b b pun'ctured in -the cards to receive the ends c c of the point-slides, which are not to be pushod forward.l Ordinarily, when the stitches are not to be changed, the cards are to be punctured, but when stitches are to be' dropped for narrowing, thevcard is not punctured for the point-slides, which are to take off the loops, and unite Ithem to the adjacent loops. This action is in harmony with the raising or, depressing of the thread-guide, as hereinbefore described. The point-slides are secured in a frame, 0,'to which a tilting motion is' imparted bythe action of cam Y, tappet-lever yl, and rod z5, (see fig, In addition to their tilting motion, the point-slides receive a reciprocating motion towards and from the needles by the direct action of the jacquard plates, as will be presently explained, and also a traversing motion, whereby the loops received by said point-slides from one row of needles are transferred to an adjacent row, according to the nature of the work to be produced. The jacquard-cylinder or roller E has as many faces (four shown in the drawings)l as necessary for performing the most gradual narrowing. Its 'side or forward and back movements for'pnslring theA point-slides -into position are produced by dams :1:5 x5, o n cam-wheels X X, secured to the two endsof the driving-shaft U, bont levers :c zc, pivoted at fr ws, and connecting-rods :z:l zzg, and the revolving movement is .effected by lifting-pins 15 15, on one of the said wheels X X, acting on levers 16 16, which are pivoted 'at li' 17, and operate pawls 18 1S, for turning ratchet-pins e e, that project from a disk, 19, on lthe seid cylinder. A stationary spring-catch, e2, enters V-shuped notches in the periphery of the disk, to keep the cylinder in position after each movement.

The remaining feature of my improvements in the machine consists in the4 point-slide traverse stay-bar S. rlhis stayebar has washer-disks s1 s1, between which the point-slides rest and move, thus keeping them rm in theirproper positions. The stay-bar has bearings in the point-slide frame, so as to turn ther-ein as the frame moves forwsrd and buck, and on the ends of the stay-bar there are lpinions s s, which work in stationary racks sL s2, so as to cause thcstay-bar to revolve as it moves with the pointslide frame. And this revolution is in such 'a direction that the stay-bar turns in the direction opposite to the slide-motion ofthe point-slides thereon. The object of this is to prevent those point-slides, which are not designed to be moved, from being pushed forward vby friction. It is. evident that this device eieotnally accomplishes the purpose.

When theinachine is in operation, each course of stitches is produced as follows: After the thread has boon transferred to the needles by the action of the thread-guide, as liereinbeforo described, the jacquard-,cylinder moves forward, and those point-slides which are opposite to the solid parts of the jacquard-plates are carritniAf forward over the needles. The frame containing the point-slides is then tilted, and the frame-sinkers didine/ne loops from the needles 4on the points; thon thc points rise, and the traverse motion takes place by the mechanism usual for such purpose carrying the stitch to any other needle that is desired then the point-slides tilt again, and the loops are pushed back on the needles by the frame-sinkers. The point-slides then tip up and return to their original position, whenthe course is finished.

What I claim as my invention, and desire torsecure by Letters Patent, lis

1. The point-slides C C, arranged in a. tiitingeframe, C", and reeiproeated towards and from the needles by the direct action of the jacquard-plates, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The spiral stop A, with its ratchet-gear or equivalent, operating with the thread-guide and needles, as described, in combination with jacquard-cards B B and point-slides C C, controlled by said cards for the purpose of narrowing the goods, substantially as herein'speoied.

3. The ratchet-cam D, in combination with the spring-guide F, stationary pawl G, and pawl H, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth. l v

4. The suspended reciprocating pawl I-I, in combination with the ratchet-cam vD and spiral stop A, and its ratchet-wheel, I, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

` 5. The perpendicular slide-har J, operated by the shoe K and cam L, or their equivalents, andaeting in combination with thejhread-guide M, and moving, by means of its pawl, H, the spiral ratchet, all substantially Y as herein described.

i 6. The sliding-thread guide, attached to the regular thread-guide, in combination with the horizontal lever, which acts directly on the upright slide thread-guide, and is operated by the upright shaft'that drives the spiral ratchet-gear, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

T. The point-slide traverse-stay bar S, turning in contact with the pointslides in the direction opposite to its forward movement, substantially as and for the purpose herein set i'orthL v J. DALTON.

Witnesses:

l W. Hsnrr,

E. F. KAsTENHUBnn. 

